S.F. Playhouse gives 'Camelot' a gritty makeover

"I pinch myself every day, I'm so happy," Bill English says of his San Francisco Playhouse's first year in its new home. "I couldn't be more thrilled."

It's been a very good 10th season for the Playhouse. A year ago, English and co-founder Susi Damilano - his partner in life as well as the theater - had just begun planning the company's move from its longtime 100-seat home on Sutter Street to larger quarters in the former 450 Post Street Theatre. With one show left in a season that opened with the boisterous rock opera "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" and achieved numerous sellouts for Stephen Adly Guirgis' edgy "The Mother- With the Hat," English is looking back at a year of audience growth "well ahead of our estimates."

"We've increased our box office almost 50 percent, in people and dollars," he says. "So it seems like perfect timing. We were bursting at the seams up there on Sutter, turning people away."

Fortunately, the Playhouse still has room to grow as its audience expands. It's operating at about three-quarters capacity, but that's in a house that seats up to 230, scaled down from its original 729 (by closing off the sides and some balcony seating and extending the stage out into auditorium).

And English may be about to test its limits with his annual summer musical. After achieving a hit with last year's reimagined version of Lerner and Loewe's classic "My Fair Lady," he's following up with their enduringly popular subsequent success, "Camelot." But like his "My Fair Lady," it's a "Camelot" "roughed up around the edges."

"It's a favorite of mine," English says, "but I think 'Camelot' has always been a troubled show. The music is brilliant, but the book definitely leaves something to be desired. So I'd always wanted to try to reinvent it. I wanted to make Camelot a lot grittier. We're setting it farther back, more in the Dark Ages, more 'Braveheart' - I've cut all the references to shining armor and that kind of stuff. These knights are a pretty rough bunch, like bikers with clubs."

Goth Guenevere

English flew to New York and got permission from Tams-Witmark, which controls the rights, to make a number of changes, including expanding the role of the villain, Mordred, moving a major offstage fight scene onstage and reinserting two songs that were cut early in the original 1960 Broadway run (though included on the cast album), "Fie on Goodness!" and Guenevere's "Then You May Take Me to the Fair."

" 'Fie on Goodness' sets up that whole world," English says. "Arthur has managed to get these knights to behave for a few short years, and they're ready to bust out. They need to get back to raping and killing and pillaging. Mordred just needs to stir them up a bit. It's a pretty lusty, nasty little song. And it's a lot of fun.

" 'Fair' is the song where Guenevere tries to get the knights to beat the s- out of Lancelot because he's so full of his sanctimonious self. We're sort of trying to de-Julie Andrews-ify her whole character. If you look at her lyrics, she's angry about 'being bid and bargained for like beads at a bazaar.' So we're playing her more as an angry Goth princess from 'Game of Thrones.' "

English's Guenevere is Monique Hafen, who played Eliza Doolittle in last year's "My Fair Lady" - opposite the Henry Higgins of Johnny Moreno, who returns this time in the lead role as her troubled husband, Arthur. Also back from "Lady" is the popular Charles Dean (last year's Doolittle) as Merlyn. As an added attraction, Broadway star Wilson Jermaine Heredia, a Tony winner for "Rent," is playing Lancelot.

"I'm really excited to have him," English says. "Lancelot has invariably been played by a stick of wood with a big baritone and I wanted a really good actor in the part, and then I found out he was in town. He's a wonderful actor and he has a big, beautiful voice. He can kill 'If Ever I Would Leave You.' "

Medieval sound

English adds that he and musical director Dave Dobrusky are also "creating our own orchestrations," aiming for a medieval sound with "pipes, drums and ancient string instruments" for a four-person ensemble. "We're trying to stay away from a pianistic feel to make it sound older."

For next year's musical, Steven Sondheim's "Into the Woods," English thinks he may expand to a six-piece orchestra. The larger stage gives him the freedom to take on bigger challenges - as reflected in a coming season made up mostly of regional and West Coast premieres: Rajiv Joseph's "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo," John Patrick Shanley's "Storefront Church," Jez Butterworth's "Jerusalem," Theresa Rebeck's "Seminar" and the world premiere of Lauren Gunderson's "Bauer."

"I can do shows that have a bigger scope here," he says. " 'Bengal Tiger,' that's huge, and tough to pull off. And 'Jerusalem' - I think ours will be the first American production - you have to get an Airstream trailer on the stage. I'm already shopping. I'm thrilled with the season. Also a little terrified." {sbox}

Camelot: Previews begin Tuesday. Opens Saturday. Through Sept. 14. $30-$100. San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., S.F. (415) 677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org.

Robert Hurwitt is The San Francisco Chronicle's theater critic. E-mail: rhurwitt@sfchronicle.com